We the people,

in order to form a more perfect union...

…perhaps no eleven words written down in history have ever resulted in a brighter North Star for an entire nation, let alone for the world. In this phrase is not only the eternal aim of America – continuous improvement – but also our means of getting there: each other.

At a moment marked by dysfunction and division, More Perfect – a campaign to align America around a shared vision for democratic renewal – is our reminder that our finest moments come when we set big, bold, long-term goals that capture our imagination… and then rally across our differences to achieve them.

But when it comes to democracy itself – the foundation of our problem-solving engine and thus the foremost issue we face – we too often find ourselves mired in short-term thinking, tribalism, and incrementalism. The time has come to think bigger and act together. For the future.

In that spirit, More Perfect has formed a partnership among all 34 of our nation’s Presidential Centers, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 partners to help protect and renew our democracy as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and beyond.

Co-Chairs

Melody Barnes
Executive Director, Karsh Institute of Demoracy at UVA; Former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council
John Bridgeland
Co-Chair & CEO, More Perfect; Executive Chairman, Office of American Possibilities; Former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council
Stephen Heintz
President & CEO, Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Former Co-Founder & President, DEMOS; Former Co-Chair, National Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship in the 21st Century
Alan Khazei
Co-Founder & Former CEO, City Year; Former Commissioner, National Commission on Military, National and Public Service
Gen. Stanley McChrystal
CEO & Chairman, McChrystal Group; Former Commander, US & International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan; Former Commander, Joint Special Operations Command
Cecilia Muñoz
Co-Chair, Office of American Possibilities; Former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council

National Advisory Council

Penny Abernathy
Professor, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University;
Paige Alexander
Chief Executive Officer, The Carter Center
Jon Alger
President, James Madison University
Danielle Allen
James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University
Nisha Anand
CEO, Dream Corps
Terry Babcock-Lumish
CEO, Friends of the Truman Foundation; Executive Secretary, Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
Dan Baker
Interim President and CEO, National Peace Corps Association
Daniella Ballou-Aares
Senior Advisor, Dahlberg Advisors; CEO & Co-Founder, Leadership Now Project
The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis
Ian Bassin
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Protect Democracy
Sara Bon-Harper
Executive Director at James Monroe’s Highland
Douglas Bradburn
President & CEO, George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Jim Brady
Vice President, Journalism, Knight Foundation
Donna Brazile
Former Chair, DNC
Trevor Brown
President, NASPAA and Dean, John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University
Ken Burns
Emmy Award-Winning Documentarian
Jim Byron
President and CEO, Nixon Foundation
Andrew H. Card, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer, George & Barbara Bush Foundation
Ray Chambers
Ambassador for Global Strategy, WHO
Peter Chernin
Chairman & CEO, The Chernin Group
Gail Christopher
Executive Director, National Collaborative for Health Equity; Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration
Marlene Colucci
CEO, The Business Council
Barbara Comstock
Former Member of Congress (R-Virginia)
Aron Cramer
President and CEO, Business for Social Responsibility
Cheryl Crazy Bull
President and CEO, American Indian College Fund
Carlos Curbelo
Former Member of Congress (R-Florida)
Asha Curran
CEO of GivingTuesday
Eola Lewis Dance
President and CEO, James Madison’s Montpelier
Patricia De Stacy Harrison
President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Matt Denhart
President, Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
Larry Diamond
Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
John Dilulio
Professor, University of Pennsylvania; Former Director of the White House Office of Faith based and Community Initiatives
Joshua DuBois
CEO, Values Partnerships; Former Director, White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
General Joseph F. Dunford
Chairman of the Board, Adams Presidential Center; Senior Managing Director, Liberty Strategic Capital; Chairman, Semper Fi & America’s Fund Board; Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gary Edson
President, More Perfect; former Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy National Economic Advisor
Steve Eng
Advocacy Director, National Association of Evangelicals
Mindy Finn
Founder and CEO, Citizen Data
Carly Fiorina
National Honorary Chairperson of the Virginia 250 Commission
James Fishkin
Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
Rachel Flor
Executive Director, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Nicole Gallant
Founder & Principal, Downie Street Collective
Dr. Mildred García
President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Robert M. Gates
Former Secretary of Defense
Dick Gephardt
Former House Majority Leader (D-Missouri)
Nancy Gibbs
Director, Shorenstein Center at Harvard Kennedy School
Ben Ginsberg
Election Expert and Legal Scholar, Hoover Institution
Donald Gips
CEO, The Skoll Foundation
Gerry Goldberg
CEO and Co-Founder of GYL Financial Synergies
Stephen Goldsmith
Professor and Director of the Innovations in American Government Program, Harvard; Former Mayor of Indianapolis (R) and Former Deputy Mayor of New York (R)
Jonathan Greenblatt
National Director and CEO, Anti-Defamation League
Richard Haass
President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations
Steven J. Hadley
Former National Security Advisor
Jewel Harris
Superintendent, William Howard Taft National Historic Site
Rachel Helvering
Executive Director, President James K. Polk Home and Museum
Adam Hinds
CEO, Edward M. Kennedy Institute
Shirley V. Hoogstra
President Emerita, Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
Margaret Hoover
Host, Firing Line; Member of the Board of Trustees, The Hoover Presidential Foundation
Asa Hutchinson
Former Governor (R-Arkansas)
Charles A. Hyde
President & CEO, Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site
Dr. R. William Ide
Former President, American Bar Association; Former General Counsel, Monsanto Company; Of Counsel, Akerman LLP
Shamil Idriss
CEO, Search for Common Ground
Dave Isay
Founder & President, StoryCorps
Valerie Jarrett
Chief Executive Officer, The Obama Foundation
L. Gregory Jones
President, Belmont University
Jane Kamensky
President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Dirk Kempthorne
Former Governor (R-Idaho), Former Senator (R-Idaho), Former Secretary of the Interior
Joe Kennedy
Co-Founder & Executive Director, The Team
Kim Kenney
Executive Director, The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
Chi Kim
CEO, Pure Edge
Howard Kittell
President & CEO, Andrew Jackson Foundation | Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage
David Kramer
Executive Director, George W. Bush Institute
Mary Landrieu
Former U.S. Senator (D-LA)
Yuval Levin
Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Kyle Lierman
CEO, Civic Nation
Linda Livingstone
President, Baylor University
Max Lubin
CEO, Rise, Inc.
J. Michael Luttig
Former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Former General Counsel of Boeing; and former Clerk for Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
Robert Lynch
Former President and CEO, Americans for the Arts
Maya MacGuineas
President, Committee for a Responsible Budget
Patrick Madden
Executive Director, National Archives Foundation
Imam Mohamed Magid
Executive Religious Director, ADAMS Center and Chairman, International Interfaith Peace Corps; Former President, Islamic Society of North America
Jason Mangone
Executive Director, More in Common USA
Dr. Anne E. Marshall
Executive Director, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and Museum and Ulysses S. Grant Association
Ben McAdams
Senior Fellow, Sorenson Impact Center; Former State Senator and Mayor
Mundi McCarty
President & CEO, The Hoover Presidential Foundation
Ted Mitchell
President, American Council on Education
Janet Murguía
President and CEO, UnidosUS
Ed O'Keefe
CEO, Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
John Palfrey
President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Deval Patrick
Former Governor (D-Massachusetts)
Jonathan Petuchowski
Former Legislative Director, U.S. Congressman (R-Ohio) & Small Business Owner
Louis Picone
Historian and Author; Chairman, The Grover Cleveland Presidential Library
Jim Pitofsky
Managing Director, Strategic Alliances for Stand Together
Trevor Potter
Founder and President, Campaign Legal Center; Former Chairman, Federal Election Commission
Robert D. Putnam
Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University
Marc Racicot
Former Governor (R-Montana)
Miles Rappaport
Executive Director, 100% Democracy: An Initiative for Universal Voting
Condoleezza Rice
Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy; Former Secretary of State
Ronn Richard
President and CEO, The Cleveland Foundation
Tom Ridge
Former Governor (R-Pennsylvania), Former Member of Congress (R-Pennsylvania), Former Secretary of Homeland Security
Rosie Rios
43rd Treasurer of the United States; Chair of America250
Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr.
Founder, GlocalNet; Co-Founder, Multi-Faith Neighbors Network; Sr. Global Pastor, Northwood Church
Ambassador Tim Roemer
Executive Director and Strategic Counselor, APCO Worldwide; former U.S. Ambassador to India; former Member of U.S. Congress (D-IN); former 9/11 Commissioner
Jeffrey Rosen
President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and contributing editor, The Atlantic
Kathy Roth-Douquet
Co-founder and CEO, Blue Star Families
Doug Rutzen
President and CEO, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Fred Ryan
Chairman, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute
Matt Sandgren
Executive Director & Board Member, Orrin Hatch Foundation
Stefanie Sanford
Chair, Institute for Citizens & Scholars; Former Chief of External Relations, College Board; Former Director of US Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Rabbi David Saperstein
Faith Leader; Former United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom; Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Chris Seiple
Principal Advisor, Templeton Religion Trust
Frank Sesno
Director of Strategic Initiatives of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs; Former CNN Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent
Tim Shriver
Founder, Unite
Christina Shutt
Executive Director, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum
Jennifer Sirangelo
President and CEO, Points of Light
Meredith Sleichter
Executive Director, Eisenhower Foundation
Evan Smith
Co-Founder and former CEO Texas Tribune; Senior Advisor, Emerson Collective
Alan Solomont
Dean Emeritus, Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University
Margaret Spellings
President and CEO, Texas2036; former Secretary of Education
Richard Stengel
Former Editor, TIME Magazine and Former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
Stephanie Streett
Executive Director, The Clinton Foundation
Tina Tchen
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Impact Officer, The Obama Foundation
Baratunde Thurston
Writer, Activist, Comedian, Host of How To Citizen with Baratunde and America Outdoors
Natalie Tran
Executive Director, CAA Foundation
Mark Updegrove
President and CEO, Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation
Debra Wada
CEO, Senshi Ame Advisors LLC and Executive Director, Uniformed Services Family Health Plan Alliance
Zach Wamp
Former Member of Congress (R-Tennessee)
Pete Wehner
Columnist, New York Times and The Atlantic; Vice President and Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center; Former presidential speechwriter
Christie M. Weininger
Executive Director, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums
Gleaves Whitney
Executive Director, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
Maya Wiley
President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Robin Wilson von Seldeneck
President & Chief Executive Officer, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Tim Wirth
Former United States Senator (D-Colorado); Former President, United Nations Foundation
Felicia Wong
President and CEO, The Roosevelt Institute
Judy Woodruff
Award Winning Journalist; Former Anchor and Managing Editor, PBS NewsHour
Sam Worthington
CEO, InterAction
Layla Zaidane
President and CEO, Millennial Action Project

Team

Danielle Allen
Senior Advisor
John Bridgeland
Executive Chairman and CEO
Jordan Brooks
Campaign Director
Gary Edson
President
Alan Khazei
Co-Chair & Senior Advisor
Yuval Levin
Senior Advisor
Andrew Mangino
Senior Advisor
Kelley McCormick
Senior Advisor, Communications
Cecilia Muñoz
Co-Chair & Senior Advisor
Andy Ogden
Creative Director
Christina Roberts
Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships
Lezlee Westine
Strategic Adviser, Corporate Engagement

Founding Partners

Presidential Centers
View Our Presidential Partners Page
Democracy Institutions

Partners